Spector Murder Trial Opens in La

More than four years after an actress and part-time waitress was found dead of gunshot wounds in the lobby of his palatial home, the legendary 1960s record producer Phil Spector was today described as "sinister and deadly" on the first day of his trial in Los Angeles.

The spartan courtroom offered a stark contrast to the opulence of Mr Spector's own lifestyle. The latest defendant in the city's procession of celebrity trials took his place at 10.05am under fluorescent lights on the ninth floor of a nondescript courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

The click of his heels heralded his arrival in the courtroom. Taking a lesson from Michael Jackson, Mr Spector, 62, wore an off-white frock coat over a matching waistcoat and open-necked purple shirt.

In his opening statement, deputy district attorney Alan Jackson addressed the jury, describing Mr Spector as someone "who, when he's confronted with the right circumstances, when he's confronted with the right situations, turns sinister and deadly".

"The evidence is going to paint a picture of a man, who on February 3 2003, put a loaded pistol in Lana Clarkson's mouth - inside her mouth - and shot her to death." Mr Spector pleads not guilty.

Mr Spector, standing to face the jury as they took their seats, appeared nervous and grey-faced. Seated behind the defendant was his 26-year-old wife Rachelle and family members of Lana Clarkson, the woman found dead in his house.

The trial stems from the events on a February morning a little over four years ago. In the early hours of Monday February 3 2003, Mr Spector's fill-in chauffeur Adriano DeSouza was sitting in the producer's black Mercedes S430 outside Mr Spector's home, the grandly named Pyrenees Castle, when he heard what sounded like a shot. As the driver got out of the car to investigate, Mr Spector emerged from inside wearing a white jacket and carrying a gun.

"I think I killed somebody," he said.

What happened next is known only to one person, Mr Spector, and it is quite possible that he doesn't really remember. When police, called by the driver, entered the mansion they found a lifeless Clarkson sprawled on a chair, her head tilted back, the bottom of her mouth blown off and a blue steel 36-calibre Colt revolver under her left leg. In the gun were five live cartridges; under the hammer was a spent cartridge.

Mr Spector appeared dazed, according to police reports, alternately railing against the officers and apologising for the misunderstanding. His state could have been the result of shock, alcohol, the medication he was on or the 50,000 volts of electricity he received when police Tasered him after he allegedly failed to remove his hands from his pockets.

"What's wrong with you guys," officer Beatrice Rodriguez quoted Mr Spector as saying in her hand-written report, filed later that day. "I didn't mean to shoot her, it was an accident."

Mr Spector was arrested and taken to the local police station. But 12 hours later, he was released on bail in the company of his lawyer, Robert Shapiro, a former member of the Simpson defence team.

He was not charged until November that year when he was presented with the charge sheet at the Alhambra courthouse: "The crime of MURDER ... a felony, was committed by PHILLIP HARVEY SPECTOR, who did unlawfully and with malice aforethought murder LANA CLARKSON, a human being," it read.

Mr Spector and Clarkson had met just a few hours earlier at the House of Blues nightclub, where she had recently started work as a hostess. The House of Blues was the fourth stop of the night for the 62-year-old Mr Spector, and Clarkson was his third partner of the evening.

After initially refusing Mr Spector admission to the club's VIP area, Clarkson was told by the management to treat him "like gold". When Mr Spector suggested a nightcap at his castle after the club closed, she agreed.

The trial, the latest in Los Angeles' diet of celebrity justice, is expected to last two months. Judge Larry Fidler, a strong advocate of judicial openness, has allowed cameras into the courtroom, which could serve to increase the level of interest around the case.

But Mr Spector is not OJ, or Michael Jackson. His fame largely rests with those in the music business and those from another era. To today's young music fans, Phil Spector and the Wall of Sound carry little weight.

Nevertheless, the trial promises to generate considerable interest. Like Jackson, in some respects Mr Spector remains more popular in Britain than in the US. As much of his music found a British audience before capturing the ears of Americans, so his legacy has endured in the UK.

Jury selection in the case took a week, with the final panel of 12 jurors and six alternates finally selected on Tuesday. The nine-man, three-woman jury includes a fair cross-section of Los Angeles life. Two members of the panel work for a TV company, one of them a producer who has worked for NBC on both the Jackson and OJ trials. He has also researched the Spector case for the channel, but promised to bring a fair mind to the deliberations. Another is a senior executive with a film company, a third a clerk at the court where the trial is being held.

The jury will hear from Mr Spector's defence counsel, Bruce Cutler, who brings a reputation as a brash New Yorker, famous for his work on behalf of alleged mob capo John Gotti.

The trial, in the same courthouse where OJ Simpson was tried, is expected last at least two months.